Abstract

The topic of watershed hydrology, is, in the author's words, “…simply the study of the movement and storage of water on and in the context of the natural land unit of the hydrosphere, the watershed.” The organizational structure of Watershed Hydrology has storage and process as a focus, and this theme is reflected throughout. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the hydrologic cycle and some basic concepts of storage in the hydrologic cycle. Hydrologic processes are briefly defined, and several misconceptions about the hydrologic cycle are noted. Sites of storage within the hydrologic cycle (depression storage, channel storage, detention storage, groundwater storage, retention storage, and vegetation storage) are briefly introduced, along with the concept of a watershed.